Showing posts with label Satellite. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Satellite. Show all posts

Thursday, June 09, 2016

Rotation - Option 5


Just wanted to correct something with respect to portable, outdoor (or even indoor) operation.

I had listed 4 options for my shack:
  1. to go outside and manually position the antenna, that is go semi-portable with the FT-736R, which I've done... 
  2. get a second FT-817 to work full duplex, and then go outside
  3. only try to work FM satellites using my FT-817 plus a handheld, OR
  4. get some kind of antenna rotor/positioning system in place

In fact, I was overlooking using my SDRPlay SDR receiver... so, in the spirit of "completeness"
there is option:

     5. use SDRPlay with HDSDR as a satellite downlink receiver. For uplink, the FT-817

Thursday, December 03, 2015

Destroy this one, and they'll all go.

I think this line by Spock, in Star Trek TOS, was the single reason I went into computers, even though I saw this episode years before my first encounter in a computer lab at Montclair State.

SPOCK: This one's the key. The circuit is now locked. Destroy this one, and they'll all go. 



Note that in my high school, learning about "computers" meant learning basic and submitting jobs through punched cards. I didn't take a computer class until freshman year in college.

I will also note that I never rose to greatness (big deal LOL) in either programming or position.

I have, however, been gainfully employed and have always enjoyed the technology and techniques applied to our world via the bits and bytes deployed in computers.

Now what is it about Satellites that drew me back to Ham Radio?

A sense of "fun"? Something different? Not sure.

One thing I'm sure of is that I'll never rise to "greatness" within the Ham Satellite community, but will definitely enjoy the ride of learning, and sense of adventure, as I point an antenna to an anticipated point of AOS and follow a track through LOS!